Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is a government-mandated payment that provides financial support to eligible employees taking maternity leave in the UK.
If SMP is not generated for a UK employee, several factors may be at play. To qualify for SMP, an employee must meet certain criteria, the most crucial being that the employee must have been employed by the organization for at least 26 weeks leading up to the 15th week before the expected week of childbirth.
To investigate why SMP is not generating for a UK employee, we have compiled a list of possible reasons and their resolutions.
To do this, follow the steps below.
Check the 15th week
Check that the 15th week date is correctly populated for the employee.
To resolve this, follow the steps in the relevant section below.
Portal
Click Employee then highlight the relevant employee, click View.
Click Maintain Statutory.
Click the three-dot menu then click Edit.
Correct the date here if necessary
Back Office
Click CorePay then click Input.
Click Statutory Pay then click Maintain SMP Details.
Correct the date here if necessary.
Check for continuous employment before the 15th week
Check that the employee has been in continuous employment with the company for at least 26 weeks before the 15th week.
To resolve this, follow the steps below.
Verify that the employee's start date is accurate.
If not, amend the start date as needed.
Re-run the validation job.
For more information, check the UK government website for Maternity pay and leave.
To qualify for Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP), you must:
Earn an average of at least £113 per week.
Give the correct notice to your employer.
Provide proof of your pregnancy.
Have worked continuously for your employer for at least 26 weeks, including the 'qualifying week,' which is the 15th week before your expected due date.
Tupe date issues
If the settings are configured to use the tupe date as the employee's start date and the employee does not have a tupe date, the system cannot confirm whether the employee has met the 26-week employment requirement before the 15th week.
Click Settings then under UK Tax Rates, click General.
Under General, turn on Enable HR Tupe Date toggle.
Edit the field if necessary.
Maternity start date
The maternity start date has been changed.
If the maternity start date has been altered, note that Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) does not generate retrospective payments for periods that have already closed.
If an employee's maternity start date is updated to fall within a closed period, the system will not recalculate or provide payment for the affected days.
To resolve this, a manual adjustment is required.